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Executive Editor John Pricci

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Tom Jicha

Tom has been a sports writer, columnist, and an editor at various times throughout a journalistic career that spans more than four decades. His passionate writing and reporting on thoroughbred racing can now be read in his "Ante Post" blog.

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Indulto's "Players Up" blog. Taking his nickname from the King Ranch color-bearer of the 1960s, Indulto now devotes his time to advocate for the recreational player and hobbyist, but prefers lower takeout rates for all rather than subsidized rebates for the few.

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Latest Columns and Blogs

OCEANPORT, NJ, July 31, 2015—Finally, after 2-1/2 hours on the Fort Lauderdale tarmac, where repairs were made on the plane’s hydraulics—time well spent—I arrived on the Jersey Shore, Jennifer’s Place…smack in the middle of a heat wave.

It was hotter in Newark than it was in South Florida.

But the good news is that rain is nowhere in the forecast beginning today through Tuesday of next week. No sense watching the 2015 Triple Crown demolish some other field over a sloppy racetrack.

There are other interesting races this weekend but we have not yet looked seriously at the Jim Dandy or West Virginia Derby as of this post and nowhere close to checking out the Haskell program, a 14-race program.

I have two words for when Sunday arrives: Bring It!

Not long after the Haskell is run, there will be stopovers in Suffolk and Putnam Counties as we wend our way toward the North Country early Whitney morn. Can’t wait for that, either. Even on my own dime, life is still good.

July 26, 2015—For us, the racing odyssey of 2015 is set to begin; much bag packing and errand running will ensue.

But there’s business to finish; writing, posting and editing to be done, selections to be made, traveling to begin. Saratoga Simulcast Diary will return Saturday, Jim Dandy day, the price for witnessing Sunday’s Haskell Invitation Ball staring Cinderfella, aka American Pharoah.

Good for Garden State fans and horseplayers. The good people of New Jersey love their racing (inded they do, Mr. Christie) and the area deserves and could use this shot in the arm. Note that “The Boss” has attended Haskells past, in his usual low key manner.

If he’s in Oceanport on Sunday, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise. Surely it will lend itself to the special atmosphere. Non-Springsteen fans probably didn’t hear but he showed up at a local bar last week, jumped on stage and played a two-hour set. No big deal, of course; he’s been doing things like that his entire career.

And so the Derby has “My Old Kentucky Home,” the Preakness “Maryland, My Maryland,” and the Belmont its “New York, New York” but only Monmouth Park has “Born To Run,” ‘cause tramps like them…

Now, through the Saratoga 147 Racing Trip Diary on the season’s first Saturday:

Race 1: Didn’t take long for the “Graveyard” to claim its first victim--then the crowd had no right to make second-time-out trainer Mark Casse’s Moon King 2-5 on debut, no matter how fast he worked, right?

While the Haskell and the Jim Dandy have taken center stage this weekend, the two-year-olds will be starring in their own version of the ''The Voice'' or "American Idol''.

These stars of the future, ' babies,' are immature competitors who will learn what the game is all about in their first few starts.

Here is some of the stars of tomorrow begin ning in Sunday's opener:

Too Discreet, a full sister to Discreet Marq, we first saw on June 24. I knew from the first that she is very talented. She debuts on the grass, her sister's favorite surface. Follow along as she progresses. The interesting horse in this race is second-time starter My Man Al. Babies with a good race under them is a good edge to have.

Dogs Up: Saturday we had turf works on Oklahoma. Dogs were out 36 feet and we saw an old friend who we sort of forgotten about due to a lack of acceptable performances; Gorgeous Bird.

I know some of you are rolling your eyes but boy does he look different on grass! He carried himself very well and moved smoothly through the stretch and galloped out awesomely. He worked in 1:02.3 around the dogs. Really want to see now what he does. Is turf the answer? Remember you can always check it out and bet against if the price is too short.

Jim Dandy weekend is here and everyone is talking about the Jim Dandy and Frosted. There is so much more to this race than Frosted.

Who more closely resembled the Last of the Mohicans in the Belmont Stakes other than American Pharoah?

I thought ran the same exact race he ran in the Derby when he moved boldly after Dortmund, who was exhausted and weakened from a bout with colic the week before the first leg of the Triple Crown but still couldn't go by him.

Then he made the same move to go by 'Pharoah' and finished one-paced again. That's who Frosted is. Like we said; there is more to the 'Dandy than Frosted.

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL., June 25, 2015—On June 24 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed trainer Rick Dutrow’s appeal of a 10-year suspension based on his claim that he was denied due process in a 2011 New York State administrative hearing.

This ruling in no way qualifies as an upset, of course. It’s simply how the process works: State’s conduct administrative hearings to adjudicate cases de jure in the guise of acting in the public interest then deny constitutional guarantees during that process.

These hearings are de facto kangaroo courts in which agenda rules. Strict rules of evidence do not apply, hearsay is permitted, and because of racing’s patchwork quilt of drug testing and regulation the results most often are capricious and arbitrary.

Even though the burden of proof is on the state, the presumption in these cases is that the client is guilty. Resultantly, appeals courts are loathe to reverse the findings of administrative hearings, reversals somehow being a tacit admission that the state process was flawed at best or, in Dutrow’s case, unconstitutional at its core.

What you are about to read is an unsolicited, personal, unabridged statement of an ex-NYRA employee in response to several readers who believe that some of the individuals who defended Rick Dutrow Jr. in the comments section of Part 1, Part 2 of HRI’s Special Report--an investigation into the Dutrow case in which the trainer was suspended for 10 years--did so because they were friends of Dutrow. In Part 3, Patti Cerda, for 20 years the Manager of the NYRA Identification Office responsible for issuing credentials to all individuals having business at any of the three NYRA tracks, states that she was made to issue false identification badges to undocumented backstretch workers or risk losing her job. That process is counter to federal and state laws, in short, an illegal act. The following is her account, edited for syntax and punctuation only

American Pharoah will be the center of attention in Monmouth's Haskell this weekend but the best race for 3-year-olds will be the Jim Dandy Saturday at Saratoga. Grade 1 winners Frosted, Materiality and Texas Red are expected along with Holy Bull winner and Florida Derby runnerup Upstart and Bill Mott's star on the rise Japan. On Wednesday, Mott will attempt to extend his remarkable record of success on his birthday.

It appears American Pharoah is heading for double duty as a stud next year, with a possible trip to Australia on his agenda. So much for him racing as a 4-year-old. Meanwhile, Lasix-free races and winter racing at Aqueduct got boosts during the past week, proponents of synthetic tracks got a chance to say, "I told you so," and another serial jockey cheater was busted again.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Stonestreet Stables' Rock Fall solidified his standing as one of the top sprinters in the country with a thrilling nose victory over The Big Beast in Saturday's Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga Race Course.

Julie Clark, assistant to winning trainer Keith Desormeaux, of Texas Red (No. 3): "He's been doing really well [at Saratoga]. We got a lot out of that bullet work last weekend. He has been training really well. Kent basically said the ride he gave him was the trip he was planning, so we went with him.…

ELMONT, N.Y. - Amerman Racing LLC's A Lot will look to repeat his Paradise Creek success when he takes on five rival sophomores going a mile on the Widener turf in the $100,000 Manila Stakes on Sunday at Belmont Park. The graded stakes-placed son of Tapit picked up his first black type score in the seven-furlong…

ELMONT, N.Y. - The Grade 3, $500,000 Dwyer - to be run on the second annual Stars & Stripes Day at Belmont Park - will feature the return of last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Texas Red, who has not raced since finishing second in the Grade 2 San Vicente on February 1 at Santa Anita Park.…

ELMONT, N.Y. - Under high weight of 123 pounds including Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, 2014 Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist has been made the 3-5 favorite over five foes for Saturday's Grade 2, $500,000 Suburban Handicap, one of six graded stakes on the second annual Star & Stripes Day at Belmont…

Drayden Van Dyke, winning trainer of Include Betty (No.2): "It was a perfect trip. I know they were going fast up front and I knew this long stretch should really help her out, she makes that nice little last run and I knew it'd work out just perfect for her. I just had to make sure that I kept pulling…